Pueblos Unidos is a Mexican criminal group active in the Michoacán region. It began in 2021 as a self-defense group defending the local avocado farmers from cartel gangs Los Viagras and Jalisco New Generation but soon degenerated into a criminal racketeering group itself. [1] [2] It has been suggested that the group is tied to the gang La Resistencia. [2]
One of the group leaders was José Artemio Maldonado, known as “El Michoacano”, one of the biggest fuel thieves in Mexico, involved in the Tula prison break. [2] [3]
Michoacán, formally Michoacán de Ocampo, officially the Estado Libre y Soberano de Michoacán de Ocampo, is one of the 31 states which, together with Mexico City, comprise the Federal Entities of Mexico. The state is divided into 113 municipalities and its capital city is Morelia. The city was named after José María Morelos, a native of the city and one of the main heroes of the Mexican War of Independence.
The Mexican drug war is an ongoing asymmetric low-intensity conflict between the Mexican government and various drug trafficking syndicates. When the Mexican military intervened in 2006, the government's main objective was to reduce drug-related violence. The Mexican government has asserted that their primary focus is dismantling the cartels and preventing drug trafficking. The conflict has been described as the Mexican theater of the global war on drugs, as led by the United States federal government.
Tancítaro is a city and municipality in the western part of the Mexican state of Michoacán, in Southwestern Mexico. Its municipal seat is the City of Tancítaro.
The Sinaloa Cartel, also known as the Guzmán-Zambada Organization, the Federation, the Blood Alliance, or the Pacific Cartel, is a large, international organized crime syndicate based in the city of Culiacán, Sinaloa, that specializes in illegal drug trafficking and money laundering. It was established in Mexico during the late 1980s as one of a various number of subordinate "plazas" operating under a predecessor organization known as the Guadalajara Cartel. It is currently headed by Ismael Zambada García and is based in the city of Culiacán, Sinaloa, with operations in many world regions but primarily in the Mexican states of Sinaloa, Baja California, Durango, Sonora, and Chihuahua. and presence in a number of other regions in Latin America as well as in cities across the U.S. The United States Intelligence Community generally considers the Sinaloa Cartel to be the largest and most powerful drug trafficking organization in the world, making it perhaps even more influential and capable than Pablo Escobar's infamous Medellín Cartel of Colombia was during its prime. According to the National Drug Intelligence Center and other sources within the U.S. the Sinaloa Cartel is primarily involved in the distribution of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, fentanyl, cannabis and MDMA.
Operation Michoacán is a joint operation by Federal Police and the Mexican military to eliminate drug plantations and to combat drug trafficking. Initiated on December 11, 2006, the operation was supervised by The Secretary of Public Safety, Attorney General of Mexico, Secretary of the Interior, Mexican Navy and Mexican Army.
The timeline of some of the most relevant events in the Mexican drug war is set out below. Although violence between drug cartels had been occurring for three decades, the Mexican government held a generally passive stance regarding cartel violence through the 1980s and early 2000s.
La Familia Michoacana, La Familia, is a Mexican drug cartel and organized crime syndicate based in the Mexican state of Michoacán. They are known to produce large amounts of methamphetamine in clandestine laboratories in Michoacan. Formerly allied to the Gulf Cartel—as part of Los Zetas—it split off in 2006. The cartel was founded by Carlos Rosales Mendoza, a close associate of Osiel Cárdenas. The second leader, Nazario Moreno González, known as El Más Loco, preached his organization's divine right to eliminate enemies. He carried a "bible" of his own sayings and insisted that his army of traffickers and hitmen avoid using the narcotics they produce and sell. Nazario Moreno's partners were José de Jesús Méndez Vargas, Servando Gómez Martínez and Enrique Plancarte Solís, each of whom has a bounty of $2 million for his capture, and were contesting the control of the organization.
Nazario Moreno González, commonly referred to by his alias El Chayo and/or El Más Loco, was a Mexican drug lord who headed La Familia Michoacana before heading the Knights Templar Cartel, a drug cartel headquartered in the state of Michoacán. He was one of Mexico's most-wanted drug lords.
Servando Gómez Martínez, commonly referred to by his alias La Tuta for once being a teacher, is a Mexican drug lord and former leader of the Knights Templar Cartel, a criminal organization based in the state of Michoacán. He is a former leader and founder member of La Familia Michoacana drug cartel, the split-off group of the Knights Templar. On February 27, 2015, he was arrested by Mexican security forces in Morelia, Michoacán.
Dionisio Loya Plancarte is a Mexican drug lord and high-ranking leader of the Knights Templar Cartel, a quasi-religious criminal organization based in the state of Michoacán. He is the uncle of Enrique Plancarte Solís, another former high-ranking leader of the cartel. Since 2009, he was listed as one of Mexico's 37 most-wanted drug lords, with a $30 million pesos bounty for information leading to his capture. He was arrested by the Mexican Army in Morelia, Michoacán on 27 January 2014.
The Milenio Cartel, or Cártel de los Valencia, was a Mexican criminal organization based in Michoacán. It relocated to Jalisco in the early 2000s. The Jalisco New Generation Cartel was born from the splintering of the Milenio Cartel.
Arnoldo Rueda Medina is a former Mexican drug lord and high-ranking leader of La Familia Michoacana, a drug trafficking organization which is based in Michoacán, Mexico.
Carlos Alberto Rosales Mendoza was a former Mexican drug lord who founded and led an organized crime syndicate called La Familia Michoacana. He was a close friend and associate of Osiel Cárdenas Guillén, the former leader of the Gulf Cartel.
The Knights Templar Cartel was a Mexican criminal organization originally composed of the remnants of La Familia Michoacana drug cartel based in the Mexican State of Michoacán.
Cárteles Unidos, also known as La Resistencia is a Mexican criminal enforcer squad composed of well-trained gunmen from the Sinaloa Cartel, Gulf Cartel, La Familia Michoacana, and Knights Templar Cartel originally formed to expel the Los Zetas Cartel from the states of Michoacán and Jalisco. However, Cárteles Unidos' current main rival has now become the Jalisco New Generation Cartel; a paramilitary criminal organization based in the neighboring state of Jalisco.
The Jalisco New Generation Cartel or CJNG, formerly known as Los Mata Zetas, is a Mexican organized crime syndicate based in Jalisco which is headed by Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, one of the world's most-wanted drug lords. The cartel has been characterized by its aggressive use of extreme violence and its public relations campaigns. Although the CJNG is particularly known for diversifying into various types of criminal rackets, drug trafficking remains its most profitable activity. The cartel has also been noted for cannibalizing some of its victims, sometimes during the training of new sicarios or cartel members, as well as using drones and rocket-propelled grenades to attack its enemies.
Avocado production is important to the economy of Mexico with the country being the world's largest producer of the crop. Mexico supplies 45 percent of the international avocado market. Of the 57 avocado producing countries, the other major producers are Dominican Republic, Peru, Colombia, and Indonesia, in that order.
Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, commonly referred to by his alias El Mencho, is a Mexican drug lord and leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), an organized crime group based in Jalisco. He is the most-wanted person in Mexico and one of the most-wanted in the U.S. Both governments are offering up to Mexican $30 million and US $10 million, respectively, for information leading to his arrest.
The Santa Rosa de Lima Cartel or CSRL is a Mexican criminal organization from the state of Guanajuato. Founded in 2014, it was initially headed by "The Sledgehammer". They mainly earn their income from oil theft. In June 2020, it was reported that state government raids and turf wars with the Jalisco New Generation Cartel resulted in the Santa Rosa de Lima losing much of their territories in Guanajuato, Querétaro and Hidalgo and all of their "soldiers." However, cartel members still maintain a small presence in certain municipalities of Guanajuato, such as Villagrán, though they are not active in organized crime. Ortiz was captured by state and federal authorities on 2 August 2020 along with 5 other people.
Los Viagras also known as Los Sierra is an armed wing of the LNFM Cartel in the state of Michoacán, Mexico. It was founded by the Sierra Santana Brothers, being led by Rodolfo Sierra Santana for whom arrest warrants have been issued in connection with multiple counts of homicide, robbery, extortion, and kidnapping. The group mainly operates in Zamora, Jacona, Tangancicuario, Sahuayo, and Uruapan Regions.
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